


The Road We Don't Know

by Nemhaine42



Series: Single Steps [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Darcy Lewis is Tony Stark's Daughter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-06
Updated: 2014-03-10
Packaged: 2018-01-14 18:56:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1277269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nemhaine42/pseuds/Nemhaine42
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nothing in life come without a hitch. Darcy deals with the fallout of being related to Tony Stark. Sequel to 'Single Steps.'</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Darcy was acting weird. And Steve was 113% sure it was Tony’s fault. Ever since she’d taken cookies down to the workshop, both of them had been behaving differently.  Darcy was still pretty happy to see him but Tony was avoiding him and when he couldn’t do that he was awkward and _silent_. He’d just stare at Steve suspiciously and not talk to him. Sure, the two of them hadn’t started off on the right foot but Steve liked to think they’d been learning to work together. Whatever Darcy and Tony had said to each other in that workshop had somehow put Steve in the doghouse.

 

But he could have ignored Tony’s mood if Darcy hadn’t been acting strangely in other ways. She was still warm and sweet to him but she’d disappear off to wherever Tony was all the time. Where before she’d eat her lunch with Steve and anyone else who was around, now she’d go eat with just Tony. He didn’t want to say he was jealous but, yeah, he was completely jealous. He was nursing a pretty substantial crush on her and had been a good way towards thinking she liked him back.  It felt like Tony was stealing her out from under him. Which was a ridiculous idea because what possible reason could Tony have to do that? But something was still up. Steve had become aware that Clint knew something about whatever was going on and resolutely refused to tell. Barton had told him it was classified - “ _seriously, Cap, it_ is _classified_ ” - and teased him about now being forced to ask Darcy out directly.

 

So here he was, standing awkwardly by the glass doors to the workshop with his hand stuffed in his pockets, waiting to grab Darcy’s attention. He’d struck gold in that Tony had been corralled into a meeting in R&D, allowing him to avoid Stark’s mistrustful glaring and freeing up Darcy’s lunch hour. She was poking away at a holographic interface, programming things into JARVIS that he wasn’t even going to pretend to understand. He wasn’t sure if he just wasn’t getting the hang of using the AI or if Darcy had some sort of high-level clearance to use advanced bits of it.  The glass between them muffled the sounds of whatever she was doing but it was obviously successful as she grinned, which wrinkled her nose in a cute way, and fist-bumped one of the robots by her side. He couldn’t help a short laugh since he’d seen Tony attempting the same motion the week before and failing. Darcy finally looked up and, with an excited smile, tapped instructions to open the door for him.

 

“Hey, Darcy. What’re you up to?”

 

“Ah, you know, just messing around with Tony’s stuff. Fixing it will keep him out of Pepper’s hair when they get back. You?”

 

“Not much…” he said and started to fidget with a piece of jointed metal that looked suspiciously like a piece of the Iron Man suit, “I, uh… was wondering if you wanted to go grab something to eat.”

 

“Oh, sure. Is there still leftover pizza upstairs?”

 

“Uh… yeah. But I thought, maybe, we could go… out someplace. Just us. If you want,” Steve stammered out.

 

“You mean like a… date or?” Darcy said. She looked hesitant, making doubly sure that’s what he was asking before she gave an answer. Honestly, if she didn’t want it to be a date, he’d be ok with it. Sure, it might sting for a little while but Darcy’s friendship was way more important to him. The fear of making things awkward between them had been the only real thing stopping him asking her, but now that Stark was monopolising her it seemed either way he was going to lose out on Darcy-time. But if it wasn’t what she wanted, he’d have to take it like a man.

 

“Yeah… like a date. If… if you want to, I mean. If not, we can just, you know…  it doesn’t have to be a date,” Steve said. He wished the knot of nerves in his stomach would just go away, and the pensive look on Darcy’s face was making him start to wish he’d never asked.

 

“I’d like that… if it was a date, I mean,” she said. There was a very weighty ‘but’ at the end of that sentence. Was this really that big a decision? It was only lunch. But she chewed her lip and was plainly wrestling with something in her head, “Steve… there’s something you should know.”

 

Those were awful words. Was she ill? Was she having an illicit affair with Tony? With Barton? _With both of them?_ He struggled not to physically shake his head while he quickly erased that image. Was she some sort of double agent? Oh God, Tony was making her a suit so she could fly around being Iron Man instead, wasn’t he?

 

“I mean, it’s, it’s still kind of weird for me too,” Darcy continued, “and I really like you, Steve, and I know you noticed, I just… I understand if… if it makes things different.”

 

“Uhhh…”

 

“It’s just…” she took a deep breath and squeezed her eyes shut, “Tony Stark is my father.”

 

What? That definitely hadn’t been mentioned before. But Darcy wasn’t… she didn’t have his name. She didn’t call him ‘Dad.’ And surely Tony would have given her a floor to herself? Darcy shared one with Jane and Thor. She opened one eye and caught his confused frown.

 

“I’d never met him until I got here,” she said in a timid voice, “He didn’t know about me. We’re still trying to figure out how to do the whole… father-daughter… thing.”

 

Well, that made more sense. And although it wasn’t a kind thought to have, it didn’t exactly surprise him that someone with a history like Tony would have an illegitimate kid somewhere. He certainly couldn’t imagine Tony giving an itty-bitty Darcy a piggy-back ride in the yard, or making sure she drank her milk. It actually kind of made things easier: he could compartmentalise it in the same way he handled Tony being Howard’s son. The Howard he’d known hadn’t seemed the fatherly type either, so he just separated the two and tried not to think about it. This way, Darcy Lewis was still Darcy Lewis. Not some mind-boggling extension of either Stark. He doubted that was something Darcy would want to be. In short, he could deal with it. And it would be a hell of a lot easier than Darcy being Iron Man.

 

“... so I understand if it makes it awkward for you,” Darcy continued, “I just thought you should know.”

 

“I don’t care,” he blurted out, “No, I do care but… it doesn’t change anything,”  He reached across and took her hand in his. Darcy was looking up at him like he’d said every day could be Christmas, “I still want… if you want…”

 

“Yeah,” she said through a wide smile. Steve felt a matching grin pulling on his face and she squeezed his hand in return. Since luck was on his side today, he leaned over and chanced a kiss. Darcy returned it enthusiastically and flung her arms around his neck to pull him in tighter. She smelled a little of motor oil but she felt _glorious_. All soft, warm curves where his hands fit as if tailor-made.

 

“Sorry if I’m jumping the gun here,” he said as they parted. He stayed close enough to still feel her breath on his lips.

 

“Fine with me.”

 

They leant back towards each other but Steve felt a sudden, sharp prod at his waist. He let out a short yelp and turned to glower at the robot responsible. He wasn’t sure how but it felt like it was looking at him.

 

“No, Dum-E! Bad,” Darcy scolded playfully, “Bad robot. Go sit in the corner.”

 

Dum-E whined dolefully and took himself off in the opposite direction. Steve laughed, pressed another kiss to Darcy’s lips and, after hoisting her up to sit on the workbench, he ran his hands down her side and over her thighs. Darcy, too, wasted no time putting her hands in wonderful places; from the back of his neck, across his shoulders, down his chest and to his waist where she hitched up his t-shirt to get at hot skin. He could have gleefully foregone the date if only to stay surrounded by Darcy but his good fortune was only going to stretch so far, it seemed. He heard footsteps and the opening door, followed by voices that cut short at the sight of them.

 

Glancing over Darcy’s shoulder, he saw Tony frozen in place with an expression of abject horror, with Pepper behind him. Of course, this was only going to make the ‘Tony scowls at Steve all day’ situation worse but he figured he could deal with that too. Darcy hopped off the bench and grabbed his hand, pulling towards the door.

 

“Hey, look. Must be lunchtime,” Darcy called cheerily, “We’re going to eat out,” she winked, “Catch you later, Tony.”

  
Stark was still motionless as they passed, save for the twitching in his left eye. 


	2. Chapter 2

Darcy was never in the habit of making a big deal of her birthdays. Sure, she’d have cake and drinks with friends but she wasn’t into really showy celebrations. Presents were nice too, but not just for their own sake. Her mom sent her a watch, a practical one. Jane made her a cake, which Thor took great pride in decorating as gaudily as possible. And Steve promised her dinner and a massage. Whether that meant a massage or a “massage” Darcy didn’t know, but she’d be happy with either. But it was still a work day so Darcy sat at her desk entering Jane’s data. Jane, herself, was holed up somewhere in R&D, supervising the hell out of how the department was fabricating new parts for their work and probably wasn’t going to be back anytime soon. Darcy would have been content to while away the day quietly, but doing so isn’t always a guarantee in Stark Tower. She really shouldn’t have been surprised by Tony wandering into the lab,  presenting her with a little rectangular box and a kiss on the temple .

 

“Tony, you didn’t have to get me anything,” Darcy scolded lightly, “What is it?”

 

“Go ahead and open it,” he said, ignoring her question, “I didn’t really know what to get you… But it’s, uh, something you ought to have anyway.”

 

She flipped open the lid and her eyes widened at the sight of the thin, plastic card. A platinum coloured credit card with her name on it, “Are you serious?”

 

“Sure,” Tony shrugged awkwardly, “Like I said, you should have one of those anyway… for emergencies and whatever… The bill comes to me, but it’s all yours. Go nuts.”

 

No way. That was way too much. Admittedly, Darcy hadn’t said no when he’d offered to pay off her student loans; in fact, he’d taken the ‘I’ll think about it’ to mean ‘yes, go right ahead.’ And, okay, she hadn’t exactly been shy about exploring her JARVIS privileges. But she told herself those things had been to help make her transition into Stark Industries smoother: no pre-existing debt, and access to an advanced computer system to help Jane’s work. But she had a paycheck now; she couldn’t really kid herself that this wasn’t just benefitting from being Baby Stark. Tony wanted to make a go of the father-daughter relationship but this wasn’t really the best way to do it. This limitless sort of lifestyle might seem glamorous but it was like a lot of things: more trouble than it was worth. Nothing in life came without a hitch, all things must be paid for in the end. Then again, if it was for emergencies it wouldn’t hurt, right? And actually turning him down felt ungrateful and she saw, through his phoney nonchalance, that he’d probably feel rejected.

 

“Thank you, Tony,” she sighed. He meant well, after all.

 

“No problem. But, you know, I don’t want to find out about you using it to pay for exotic, kinky-sex vacations with Captain Spangles. Are we clear on that?”

 

“Ok, I promise. No finding out,” She said smugly. She put the card back in its box, putting it in her purse spoke a little too much of intending to use it straight away.

 

“What are you waiting for? Take the rest of the day, this stuff can wait. Take Foster with you, or Rogers even. Go to a spa, get a facial,” he winced, “No, wait. I did not say that. Look just… You should be spending your birthday doing whatever you want. With whoever you want.”

 

Darcy raised her eyebrows and Tony recoiled again, “Ok, I didn’t say that either. But I’m allowed to spoil my kid on her birthday. Especially if I wasn’t there for any of the ones that came before.”

 

“I guess you’re right. But, uh,  I’m already booked in for a massage, which is also a euphemism, so…  why don’t you and I do stuff together?”

 

“Yeah?” Tony said, doing a terrible job of hiding how pleased he was.

 

“Yeah. You wanna go for sushi? I wanna go for sushi.”

 

“Sushi? That’s it?”

 

“Yup. It’s my birthday and I want to go for sushi with my dad.”

 

Tony looked away, acutely affected by that one word, before grinning and wrapping his arm around her shoulders, “Sure thing. Happy birthday, Baby Girl.”

 

But, naturally, Tony Stark did not take his daughter to just any old place for sushi. Darcy was pretty sure she’d ended up in the most expensive sushi restaurant in Manhattan. Happy had driven them - despite the fact that that really wasn’t his job anymore - up to a place near Central Park, the kind of place that looked like anybody that wasn’t Tony Stark would have to sell a vital organ just to get a reservation. But the food was amazing and they got a table in a discreet corner, so no-one unnecessary could get in their business.  Unlike the ice cream place they hit up later, where there was a whole bunch of people taking their picture. Most of them ignored her, wanting only to prove to their friends and family they’d been in the same store as Tony Stark. Darcy was glad she flouted any kind of business-appropriate dress code; her well-loved boots and knitted sweater helping her to blend into the crowd. But there was still the flashes of more professional cameras, which did worry her. It was water off a duck’s back to Tony.

 

He offered to buy her new boots to replace her scruffy ones - insisting _“It’s fine, you deserve it. My treat.”_ \- herding her through uncomfortably high-class stores until she put her foot down and told him that she considered scuffs and ingrained desert dirt to be marks of experience. That didn’t stop him buying things for himself or treats for Pepper, and by the time they were getting back in the car a rather noticeable pack of photographers was following them around.  These guys were definitely not just looking for a blurry cell phone picture of Tony Stark in an ice cream parlour. They shouted questions at them, most of which just became a barrage of noise interspersed with bright flashes and clicks. She was so hemmed in by people, her breath tightened. Everywhere she looked there was a camera pointed at her and someone yelling something to her. Honestly, aliens and explosions were less intimidating. Her head started to spin. She heard Tony’s voice giving generalised answers that did nothing to assuage anybody, but it was hazy and distant with the rushing in her head. Just when she wanted to bolt she felt a hand on her back, as Happy steered her around and stuffed her back in the car. The buzzing in her head only faded when Tony shut the door.

 

“Pfft, you’d think they’d never seen a guy buy shoes before,” Tony muttered, “Where’s next, birthday girl? Darcy? You ok? C’mon kid, it’s okay.”

 

“What the hell?” she said through deep breaths, “do they always do that?” Yeah, they probably did. She knew she must have looked like a deer in the headlights but the sudden appearance of a wall of sound and frantic movement really did a number on a gal.

 

“It’s okay, I got you,” Tony said and pulled her into his side, rubbing his hand up her arm reassuringly. Darcy sank into his arms, not wanting to look out of the windows. They were moving and the glass was tinted but she could still see out and just didn’t want to see another camera. Ever.

 

“Don’t worry, I got you,” Tony said, kissing the top of her head. She heard him tell Happy to pull the car into the underground garage, rather than dropping them off at the door, “Don’t worry about any of it. We’ve got a great PR department, they’ve had tonnes of practice. Our guys can be all over them like a rash.”

 

“I just… Can we talk about something else? Please?”

 

“You got it, Baby Girl. You can tell me all about your adventures in government SUVs with Barton.”

 

She laughed weakly, “Would you believe me if I told you that nothing happened?”

 

“Nope. Spill. You guys get a little back seat action while he was on SHIELD’s dime? I’m not judging,” he said, holding his hands up in mock defense. He moved his hand to pet her hair and she relaxed all the more. Topic of conversation aside, it felt like the way her mother had done when she was a child: warm and safe. She made a mental note to up the ante with the affectionate touching. _This_ was how you did the father-daughter thing.

 

“I know we’ve got a good thing going on here, kid, but please don’t go doing that in any of my cars. With Barton _or_ Rogers. I will buy you whatever car you want so you can do that, but _please_ not in mine.”

 

Darcy breathed out a gentle laugh, closed her eyes and let her head rest on Tony’s shoulder. She decided that what she _really_ wanted for her birthday was cuddles. Cuddles from Jane, bear-hugs from Thor… Steve-cuddles were extra yummy. But Dad-hugs were something else, totally worth the long wait. _Happy birthday, Baby Girl_ , indeed.

 


	3. Chapter 3

‘Working lunch’ meant different things to different people.

 

To Tony, it meant pizza in one hand and a screwdriver in the other. It had become standard procedure for them following Darcy’s rather unpleasant introduction to tabloid celebrity culture. Steve had been indignant - bitching about it being ‘totally irresponsible’ and how Tony had ‘taken away Darcy’s choice in the matter.’  Pepper had been forced to intervene and impress upon Tony that excursions were best when pre-planned at least a little bit. Now Darcy would just turn up at lunchtime with food, he’d turn down his music, and they’d talk about this or that. He was often torn between his curiosity and not actually wanting the answer once he got it; he always casually asked about her plans for the week and then regretted it if she told him she was going somewhere with Steve. He was getting desperate to understand how she got to know Clint in New Mexico, and frustrated when she wouldn’t tell him. Not that there had been anything beyond the pretend kissing in the car but it was fun to make him think there had been, Barton being equally content to play along. But regardless, workshop lunches with Tony became part of her week pretty seamlessly; they were fun and relaxed and made her feel closer to him.

 

‘Working lunch’ meant something entirely different to Pepper.

 

To Pepper, it meant taking laptops and phones out to restaurants and sequestering themselves in the most concealed booth and being terrifyingly professional. Darcy didn’t really know how to relate. The fact that Pepper invited her out to eat in the first place was good, but Darcy was really not familiar with the etiquette for bonding with the woman in a relationship with the father she barely knew. She liked Pepper, she really did. But Pepper was somebody Darcy knew she could never be like: all clean lines and airy, beautiful efficiency. She saw clearly how much her father loved this woman but wasn’t at all sure what to talk about. So she sat and munched her club sandwich while Pepper tapped away at a Starkpad, glancing at her every now and then. She asked Darcy questions here and there - _“So, you and Steve, huh?”_ \- attempting to start a conversation without much luck. It was uncomfortable and they both knew it.  Eventually there came a sigh and the clack of the pad on the table.

 

“I understand if this is weird for you,” Pepper said.

 

“No, it’s not weird…  well, maybe a little.”

 

“I’m sorry. I know we don’t spend a lot of time together but… I don’t want you to feel like you can’t come to me with stuff,” Pepper winced apologetically, “since I’m, you know, technically the one who signs off on the funding for you and Jane. And I’m with Tony and he’s your-” she cut herself off before she got to the crucial word and glanced around the restaurant for anyone eavesdropping.

 

“It’s okay. It’s not your fault. I’m still getting used to… everything. ”

 

“I know what you mean. Look, I… There is something I wanted to talk to you about,” Pepper admitted, “But this isn’t as your boss in any way. Just…”

 

“...as friends?” Darcy finished.

 

“Right,” Pepper said. She picked the Starkpad back up and flipped it around to show Darcy the screen, “it’s probably no surprise what I wanted to talk to you about…”

 

Staring back at her was the exact reason Darcy had been so happy to stay within the Tower so much; a high-definition photo of Tony and Darcy stepping out of the ice cream parlour with large text across the top that read _“Sugar Daddy Stark’s College Cutie!”_

 

“Wow… that’s… did they really have to get one of me with my mouth full?” she said, “I mean, I’ll give them an A for alliteration but really? That’s the best they could come up with?” The image preceded an article filled with wild conjecture about who she might be and what she was doing hanging out with Tony Stark. Taking the pad, she clicked through related articles to find dozens more of the same nature, others going with even more far-fetched theories. Although the tongue-in-cheek one about her being Tony’s genetically modified clone was closer to the truth than they probably realised.

 

“Darcy, seriously,” Pepper said and laid her warm hand on Darcy’s forearm, “Just because Tony and I ignore this stuff doesn’t mean you have to, ok? If it bothers you… our PR people are fantastic. And Tony’s really cooled his jets the last couple of years, I’m actually starting to think they might be bored.”

 

She wouldn’t lie; it had been pretty upsetting at the time, being surrounded by paparazzi, not knowing what to do with herself when confronted by their demanding presence.  But there was a catch to everything and she supposed that was the price of being involved with Tony Stark and his six-figure lifestyle. She’d never be totally fine with it but the nascent relationship with her father was worth it.

 

“It’s okay. Well, it’s not okay, I just… I can deal with it.”

 

“Are you absolutely sure? It is no problem for us to make this go away.”

 

Darcy nodded, “I’m sure.”

 

“Okay. But you can change your mind whenever you like.”

 

“I promise, the second I get sick of it, I’ll call you and a few choice people can wake up next to horses' heads or whatever it is your guys do.”

 

A bright smile appeared on Pepper’s face. She tapped off the Starkpad and shut her laptop. They finished their lunch and talked more freely; about how she came to work for Jane, about getting blind drunk under the stars in Tromso or nearly being arrested in London.

 

“Okay, I gotta ask,” Pepper leaned in and whispered, “did you have sex with Clint in New Mexico? It’s driving Tony nuts. I _have_ to know before him.”

 

Darcy laughed into her drink, dribbling it onto the tablecloth. She hadn’t realised this thing had snowballed to the point where Tony was bugging Pepper about it. She dabbed a napkin at her chin through the giggles but Pepper wasn’t having any of it.

 

“Oh come on, tell me. I asked Clint already and he just went _‘Oh I just took her for a ride, wink wink.’_ ” she complained, deepening her voice to badly impersonate Barton. Which only made Darcy laugh more.

 

“Okay, okay,” she gasped through the fading giggles, “But only if you promise to play too. _Never_ tell Tony anything.”

 

Pepper crossed her heart and hoped to die, so Darcy explained the disappointingly pedestrian tale of the dickwads that harassed her in the bar and her gently coerced knight in dark combat pants. The story was made a little better by mentioning Steve doing the angry, pouty-jaw thing the first time he witnessed Clint and Darcy teasing Tony; as well as Tony’s theory that she was attempting to have a Barton-Rogers threesome in every car he owned.

 

“Speaking of threesomes… ” Pepper started. She restarted the Starkpad and brought up an article quite a way down the search results, “I think this one’s my favourite.”

 

It was a segment, equally as baseless and trashy, discussing how ‘the mystery girl’ Darcy was ‘obviously’ entwined in a dramatic ménage à trois with Iron Man _and_ the CEO of Stark Industries. Pepper inclined her head towards the window of the restaurant, where a small gaggle of press had gathered. The two women shared knowing looks as they both had the same _terrible_  idea.

 

Darcy would later pretend not to notice how the magazine cover depicting the two of them walking with their arms draped around one another wound up in a frame on Tony’s desk. And she definitely didn’t notice how the slanderous headline had been cut out and replaced with a square of paper reading _‘Tony’s Girls.’_

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Ignore all the haters telling you everything isn't a sandwich. Everything is a sandwich." 
> 
> Welcome to Night Vale, episode 42, 'Numbers.'


End file.
